Argentina is one of the most important sport powers in the region, ending at the top of the medal count at the South American Games since 1978, with exceptions in 2002 and 2010. In the all-time medal table of the Pan American Games, Argentina holds first place among South American countries and fourth place in the Americas, behind the United States, Canada and Cuba. Despite a relative lack of success at the Olympic level in more traditional sports like athletics, swimming, and gymnastics, Argentina has had successful participations in other sports like association football, basketball, field hockey, roller hockey, padel tennis, polo and rugby union.
Argentina playing against Uruguay in 1927. The Clásico del Río de la Plata is one of the oldest derbies in the world.
Football is the most popular sport in Argentina and part of the country's culture. The sport is played by children during breaks at school and by grown-ups on the plenty of both indoor and outdoor fields located throughout the country.
Argentina's fiercest rival is Brazil and their rivalry is sometimes known as the "Battle of the South Americans". They have played each other numerous times in the Copa América and the Confederations Cup, and their clubs have met several times in the Copa Libertadores finals. Argentina is one of the few national teams in association football that have beaten Brazil on a regular basis. Argentine and Brazilian national youth teams have also met at various tournaments. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, the under-23 teams met in the semi-finals, with Argentina winning 3–0 in a hard-fought game. In addition, the aforementioned Maradona has been often compared with Brazilian iconic player Pelé.
Although women's basketball is not professional in Argentina, the national team participates in most international competitions, reaching their highest point at the 2006 FIBA World Championship for Women where they finished in the 9th place.
Rugby union is a popular and largely amateur sport. However, despite this amateurism, the national team have become one of the most powerful in the sport, finishing third in the 2007 Rugby World Cup and rising as high as third in the World Rugby Rankings (then known as the IRB World Rankings) immediately after. As of 2020, they have defeated every Tier 1 rugby nation. In particular, the Pumas have enjoyed a dominating record in recent years against France, going 7–2 since 2000, with a total points against of 7.
For the first 20 years of the sport's professional era, dating from 1996, most important Argentine players have emigrated to Europe (mainly to England and France). Probably the best known players are 1970s and 1980s star Hugo Porta; Agustín Pichot, Pumas captain during their 2007 World Cup run and now the vice chairman of World Rugby; his successor as captain, Felipe Contepomi; current star utility back Juan Martín Hernández; 1990s star and later Pumas head coach Santiago Phelan; Marcelo Loffreda, who coached the team during their 2007 World Cup run before leaving to take up the coaching post at English club power Leicester Tigers. The current head coach is previously mentioned Felipe Contepomi.
In 2012, Argentina joined New Zealand, Australia and South Africa in the Tri Nations Championship, which then became The Rugby Championship. In 2014, Argentina took their first victory in this competition against Australia in the first round. Argentina further cemented its links with SANZAAR when the country was added to that body's Super Rugby competition, which added teams based in Argentina and Japan in 2016.
Tennis has been quite popular among people of all ages since the 1970s and is the 2nd largest sport in Argentina, behind football, after both Guillermo Vilas and later Gabriela Sabatini in the 1980s reached the number 2 position and won several Grand Slams. Even though no Argentine player has thus far reached the first place at the ATP rankings, many Argentines have been among the most important in the circuit. During the 2000s a number of Argentine players were among the top 10 and the 2004 French Open featured an all-Argentine final. Gastón Gaudio won the Roland Garros in 2004. At the 2005 Tennis Masters Cup, David Nalbandian defeated world number 1 Roger Federer and the tournament gathered 4 Argentine players, an all-time record for any nationality. Most recently, Juan Martín del Potro has emerged as one of the leading players in the world, having won the 2009 US Open a few days before his 21st birthday. Argentina has won the World Team Cup four times, in 1980, 2002, 2007 and 2010 and has reached the semifinals of the Davis Cup 7 times in the last 10 years, losing the finals against Russia in 2006 and Spain in 2008 and 2011; the Argentine team also played the final in 1981, where they lost against the United States. The national squad won the 2016 Davis Cup.
Roller hockey is mainly played in the Cuyo region (especially in San Juan Province). Argentine players have an international quality, with the men's national team winning six Roller Hockey World Cup titles. The women's national team is the world's most successful team, having won six titles.
In 1994, WBA world Middleweight champion Jorge Castro knocked out John David Jackson in the ninth round to retain his title in Monterrey, Mexico. Since Castro was on the brink of suffering a technical knockout loss when he won the fight, the punch with which he beat Jackson has become known as boxing's version of Diego Maradona's Hand of God goal.
Marcela Acuña is a world champion female boxer, and arguably one of the most popular fighters of the 2000s in Argentina.
Other fighters, such as Oscar Bonavena, Juan Roldán, and Luis Firpo, did not win world championships, but were also popular among boxing fans during their years as professional fighters.
Cricket has been played in Argentina since 1806, with the international side making its first appearance in 1868, against the Uruguay national team. The sport regained some popularity, due to the national team's participation at the World Cricket League, and the Argentina national women's cricket team at the Women's version of the ICC Americas Championship. Though cricket is a minor sport, Argentina is the strongest team in mainland South America, and are currently playing in division 1777 of the World Cricket League. There is a huge scope of development of the sport in this country, given that there are a large number of British descendants in Argentina. Argentina dominated the South American Cricket Championship.
Golf
Among the best in South America, the first prominent figure of this sport in Argentina was José Jurado. He was the first Argentine to travel to major international championships and is thus often credited as the "Father of Argentine Professional Golf".[6]
Although handball in Argentina lacks the popularity of this sport on the European continent, both in terms of infrastructure and federated players, the Handball is a firmly growing sport in Argentina with the men's national team regularly qualifying for the World Championship. Argentina has started producing world class talent, such as the brothers Diego and Sebastián Simonet.
Padel tennis is played by four and a half million amateur players in thirty five thousand courts; it is the most participated sport in Argentina. Professional players compete in National Circuit of tournaments. Argentina won 19 titles at the Padel Tennis World Championship (between women and men).
Argentina's polo team won their first Olympic gold medal in 1924 and the second gold medal in 1936. Adolfo Cambiaso, Gonzalo Pieres, his brother Facundo, the Novillo Astrada brothers, the Heguy's, and Tommy Iriarte are currently ranked amongst the best polo players in the world. The three most important polo tournaments in the world, the Argentine Open, the Hurlingham Open, and the Tortugas Open are held in Argentina. Historically, Argentina has always been a leading country in this sport, and has been uninterrupted world champions since 1949 and Argentine players comprise most of the world's top ten players. Argentina has won five World Polo Championship.
Sailing
Argentina won 10 Olympic medals in sailing (1 gold, 4 silver, 5 bronze), the Argentinian experience and level in this sport is high, even between young children competing in optimist class boats. Carlos Espínola is the sailor who won most Olympic medals in this sport with four. Santiago Lange won the World Championship on four occasions (1985, 1993, 1995 and 2004) and the gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Argentina was one of eight founding members of the International Olympic Committee, and first participated in the Olympic Games in 1900 with one single athlete. Argentine Olympic competitors have, from 1900 to 2016, garnered 77 medals (21 gold, 26 silver, 30 bronze); from 1924 to 1952, its athletes had good showings, giving the Argentine delegations global ranks of between 16th and 19th. From 1956 to 2000, however, Argentina did not win any gold medals, a situation that was reversed in 2004, when it acquired two and further so, in 2008, 2012 and 2016.
Nauright, John; Parrish, Charles, eds. (2012). Sports around the World: History, Culture, and Practice. Vol. 3. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. ISBN978-1598843019.
Dougall, Angus (2013). The Greatest Racing Driver. Bloomington, IN, USA: Balboa Press. ISBN978-1452510965.
Arbena, Joseph (1999). Latin American sport: an annotated bibliography, 1988-1998. Bibliographies and indexes on sports history. Vol. 3. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN978-0-3132-9611-6.
Arbena, Joseph (2002). "In Search of the Latin American Female Athlete". In Arbena, Joseph; LaFrance, David Gerald (eds.). Sport in Latin America and the Caribbean. Lanham, MD, USA: Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 219–232. ISBN978-0842028219.
^"El fervor cordobés y los buenos antecedentes" [The fervor of Córdoba and the good antecedents]. La Nación (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. 11 July 2011. Retrieved 20 August 2012. Y en algunos de ellos los goleadores aparecieron: tres tantos hizo Gabriel Batistuta en el 5 a 0 a Bosnia, en 1998, y los dos tantos con los que la albiceleste venció 2 a 0 a Ghana, en 2009, pertenecieron a Martín Palermo.
^"Polideportivo" [Sports news]. La Nación (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. 1 October 2011. Retrieved 20 August 2012. El seleccionado argentino femenino, las Gigantes, consiguió una inolvidable victoria por 61-59 sobre Canadá y se clasificó para la final del FIBA Américas, que se juega en el Coliseo de Neiva, Colombia, en la que se medirá con el ganador del duelo que anoche sostenían Brasil y Cuba; el campeón del torneo obtendrá la única plaza directa para los Juegos Olímpicos de Londres 2012, mientras que los otros semifinalistas se aseguraron un lugar en el repechaje.
^"¡Campeonas invictas!" [Undefeated champions!]. Asociación Argentina de Cricket (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. Retrieved 20 August 2012. Finalmente, el Seleccionado Femenino Argentino, ganó todos sus partidos en el Primer Sudamericano para quedarse con el torneo.
^"La fiesta inolvidable" [The unforgettable party]. La Nación (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. 13 September 2010. Retrieved 20 August 2012. Misión cumplida: las Leonas ya eran campeonas mundiales y para ellas llegaba el instante mágico de la distensión total, del desahogo infinito; de vivir y palpitar la fiebre del sábado por la noche.
^"Ante Holanda, llegó el día decisivo para las Leoncitas" [Against the Netherlands, the decisive day has come for the Little Lionesses]. La Nación (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. 16 August 2009. Retrieved 20 August 2012. Las Leoncitas buscarán concretar hoy el gran sueño de campeonas: desde las 16.30 de nuestro país, jugarán la final del Mundial Sub 21 ante Holanda.
^"Los Gladiadores se dieron el gusto y ante el local" [The Gladiators gave themselves the satisfaction and against the locals]. La Nación (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. 3 August 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2012. El mérito de los Gladiadores fue haber superado esa prueba frente a los anfitriones, a quienes vencieron por 32-21 en el tercer compromiso del Grupo A.
^"Kirchner, con los murciélagos" [Kirchner, with the Bats]. La Nación (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. 4 December 2006. Retrieved 20 August 2012. El presidente Nestor Kirchner recibió esta mañana y felicitó al seleccionado de fútbol de ciegos bautizado como Los Murciélagos, que se acaba de consagrar bicampeón del mundo, y lo consideró como "un tremendo honor para todos los argentinos".
^"Las Aguilas golearon y se quedaron con el título" [The Eagles thrashed and grabbed the title]. La Nación (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. 3 October 2010. Retrieved 20 August 2012. En el año de los mundiales, el hockey le dio a la Argentina su segunda gran alegría del año. Claro que esta vez la hazaña no fue sobre el césped, como lo habían sabido lograr las Leonas en Rosario, sino sobre los patines de las Águilas, el seleccionado femenino que ayer se consagró en España y consiguió el cuarto título mundial para la Argentina en la disciplina.
^"Otra actuación consagratoria llevó a la Argentina a un sitial de privilegio" [Another act of consecration took Argentina to a place of privilege]. La Nación (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. 8 October 2007. Retrieved 20 August 2012. Pero si hay algo que dignifica al seleccionado es la opulencia de arrojo. Así fue, entonces, cómo los del Cardo se estrellaron con el coraje de los Pumas, responsables de otro hito del deporte argentino.
^"Los Jaguares abrieron su gira con una gran actuación" [The Jaguars opened their tour with a great performance]. La Nación (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. 11 October 2009. Retrieved 20 August 2012. El segundo seleccionado argentino rindió en gran forma y no tuvo problemas para golear a Estados Unidos Select XV (57-10).
^"Los Pumitas batieron a Tonga y definirán el pase a semifinales con los All Blacks" [The Pumitas beat Tonga and will attempt to secure their passage to the semi-finals against the All Blacks]. La Nación (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. 11 June 2008. Retrieved 20 August 2012. Fue una tarde soñada para los Pumitas. El seleccionado juvenil derrotó por 30-10 a Tonga, con 17 puntos del apertura del SIC, y definirá el sábado próximo el pase a las semifinales con Nueva Zelanda, que ayer goleó a Irlanda por 65-10 en el cierre de la segunda fecha de la Zona A.
^"Copa Davis: el sueño argentino" [The Davis Cup: Argentina's dream]. La Nación (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. 18 November 2008. Retrieved 20 August 2012. Para la Legión argentina , esa enorme generación de jugadores que comanda David Nalbandian y a la que acaba de sumarse la juventud de Juan Martín del Potro, será la revancha de la final perdida hace dos años frente a Rusia, en Moscú.
^"Rusia se benefició con el éxito de Holanda" [Russia benefited from the success of Holland]. La Nación (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. 16 August 2002. Retrieved 20 August 2012. El seleccionado argentino femenino consiguió la tercera victoria en la gira europea que está realizando, como antesala de su participación en el Mundial de Alemania. Las Panteras, tal como se las conoce, superaron a Kazajstán por 3 a 2 (parciales de 25-14, 25-20, 20-25, 14-25 y 18-16), en un match disputado en Varna, Bulgaria.
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